Starbucks and the African Savanna

by Doctor Science

It was this kind of Monday here in New Jersey:

Hiroshige, Two men on a sloping road in the rain, from Eight views of Kanazawa.

Rainy and cold, cold and *really* rainy. It reminds me of my theory (need I say it is mine?) about the connection between Starbucks and the African savanna.

Suppose humans evolved on the African savanna or something like it. Even in the rainy season, the savanna doesn't see many days that are cold and grey. So I theorize that on such days ancestral humans (being apes and thus notoriously prone to pneumonia) would be better off just snoozing and taking it slow, instead of running around getting cold and wet. Tomorrow will be a warmer day, and probably it won't rain all day long, either.

So on cold, gray, rainy days, all I feel like doing is hibernating. I can't help it, it's an evolutionary mandate!

Even in New Jersey, we don't get all that many such days in a row, and I can soon crawl out of the blanket fort and back to accomplishing things -- or have more coffee, if I actually *must* do something on Evolutionarily Mandated Hibernation Day.

I don't know if there's enough coffee in the *world* for me to live in Seattle, however. No wonder Starbucks got its start there, and why Seattle has at least one coffee shop per block. It's not an indulgence, it's a *biological necessity* if you're going to insist on living in a place so very un-savanna-like.

Now pardon me, I'm heading back to the blanket fort.

Comments

[bobbyp]

Actually, it's 2.3 coffee shops per block. But when it's a clear blue sky and 68 degrees in late May, well, you'd die of envy if you experienced it.

Admittedly this is quite rare, but well worth the wait.

[Barry]

"No wonder Starbucks got its start there, and why Seattle has at least one coffee shop per block. It's not an indulgence, it's a *biological necessity* if you're going to insist on living in a place so very un-savanna-like."

You've never been to Detroit, have you?
IIRC, we match Seattle for cloudy days, and we have snow, slush and really, really cold rain.

[cleek]

some internet sources, but not others, say that Buffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton NY are as cloudy as Seattle. easy to believe.

i didn't know that there were places where a week of overcast days was unusual until i moved to NC.

[Laura Koerbeer]

I like the rain! In fact, I am sun-phobic. I think the PNW is the only part of the US that has decent weather.

[CharlesWT]

"You've never been to Detroit, have you?"

What's up with Belle Island? All that empty real estate. The Koch brothers should buy it and turn it into Singapore on Lake St Clair.

[Hartmut]

I like myself a bit of torrential rain now and then. Sun only in limited doses please.

[Catsy]

I like the rain! In fact, I am sun-phobic. I think the PNW is the only part of the US that has decent weather.

This x 1000.